Fine purveyor of ye olde poppycock…

An NPR SXSW Music Mix

Stephen Thompson, the esteemed music editor for NPR as well as member of the Pop Culture Happy Hour and apparent all around great guy, spent weeks plowing through over 1,700 songs in preparation for this year’s SXSW festival currently underway (and/or completed). As a great benefit to us, the listeners of music and devout consumers of pop culture, Mr. Thompson has created the ultimate playlist representing what he believes to be the best that the festival has to offer… 100 songs from 100 different artists… and here’s the deal, you can download all of it… now… for free!! Yes, 100 songs for free… and they can be downloaded here.

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday cleaning around the house blasting about 40% of the list… so far, it’s an amazing collection of music. I may not be into everything that is there, but I will guarantee that there is something for everyone somewhere in the mix. A few of my favorite current bands are represented… Alt-J and Frightened Rabbit as well as Josh Ritter, and a whole host of bands I had never heard of and am now intrigued by, specifically The Away Days and Elephant Stone.

So do yourself a favor… download the mix, it’s free, and it’s only available until April 4th.